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About using DataWindow objects</TITLE>
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<A NAME="X-REF355772064"></A><h1>About using DataWindow objects</h1>
<A NAME="TI188"></A><h4>Building DataWindow objects</h4>
<A NAME="TI189"></A><p>Before you can
use a DataWindow object in an application, you need to build it.
PowerBuilder has separate painters for database management, DataWindow
definition, and library management.</p>
<A NAME="TI190"></A><p>You define and edit a DataWindow object in the DataWindow
painter. You specify its data source and presentation style, then
enhance the object by specifying display formats, edit styles, and
more.</p>
<A NAME="TI191"></A><p>The DataWindow painter is also where you make Powersoft report
(PSR) files, which you might also want to use in applications. A
PSR file contains a report definition&#8212;essentially a nonupdatable
DataWindow object&#8212;as well as the data contained in that
report when the PSR file was created.</p>
<p><img src="images/note.gif" width=17 height=17 border=0 align="bottom" alt="Note"> <span class=shaded>Report objects only in InfoMaker</span> <A NAME="TI192"></A>Older versions of PowerBuilder had a Report painter as well
as a DataWindow painter. A report object could retrieve but not
update data; it was essentially a nonupdatable DataWindow object.
The Report painter is now available only in InfoMaker.</p>
<A NAME="TI193"></A><h4>Managing DataWindow objects</h4>
<A NAME="TI194"></A><p>Several painters let you manage and package your DataWindow
objects for use in applications.</p>
<A NAME="TI195"></A><p>In particular, you can maintain DataWindow objects in one
or more libraries (<ACRONYM title = "pibble" >PBL</ACRONYM> files).
When you are ready to use your DataWindow objects in applications,
you can package them in more compact runtime libraries (PBD files).</p>
<A NAME="TI196"></A><p>For further details on how to build and organize
DataWindow objects, see the <i>PowerBuilder Users Guide</i>
.</p>
<A NAME="TI197"></A><h4>Using DataWindow objects</h4>
<A NAME="TI198"></A><p>After you build a DataWindow object (or PSR file) in the DataWindow
painter, you can use it to display and process information from
the appropriate data source. The sections that follow explore the
details of how to do this.</p>

